Chest Pains are they Anxiety or Serious Heart Problems

[medicalquestioner411]

29 female, not over weight, social smoker (1 pack-2 packs a month) social drinker (10 drinks on the weekends) I was taking YAZ birthcontrol and stopped when these symptoms began. For the past 8 weeks I have had headaches (sharp and short lived), chest pains (sudden and sharp on both sides) and facial numbness on the left side the first two weeks no longer have the numbness. This sent me to the emergency room when it first occured they did a CT scan, blood tests and an EKG and everything was normal. They said its anxiety. The headaches and chest pains did not go away so I went to a neurologist 1st had a head xray and then an MRI both were normal.  They never find anything so it always goes back to the anxiety thing. I feel like I have episodes of these horrible chest pains and headaches, like everything is in slow motion and its not when Im thinking about anything or doing anything in particular when I feel these episodes, During these episodes I have gone to the local drug store and taken my blood pressure and it is always normal. I went to a cardiologist and had another EKG and ECHO test and they were normal. Is there another heart test I could ask for? Something that could be primary wrong with my heart that they couldn't find with an EKG or ECHO? Im consumed with worry about this now! When I was 21 (like 9 years ago) I had serious anxiety issues and I had racing heart beats, difficulty sleeping, crying for no reason and isolating myself, never wanting to leave the house. Those are the things that I feel when have anxiety and that is not what Im feeling now, it's constant chest tightness and pains and headaches, deep ear pains too. I told the Dr.'s (, cardiologist, neurologist, ENT) that I know what my body does when it is anxious and its not this, they still disagree and say it is not a heart condition. Could an EKG and ECHO test really rule out all heart issues? Or should I ask for another test?

[Marleybird123]

I'm a 43 year old female. I have never experienced anxiety before. Back in Sept 09, I was under a lot of stress. My mom broke her femur bone and dad was very ill. I live in a different state and was in school, so I was unable to help my sisters take care of them. I started having severe stomach pain and trouble breathing. It would come and go. I went to my gp and went through a series of tests. Everything was normal and the pain went away. Then in Feb 10, It all came back and I had to drop out of school. I was in terrible pain for 6 months and seeing four different doctors. My dad died in July and I was miserable with the pain and grief. Finally, two weeks ago, I finally was diagnosed with a non functioning gallbladder. I Had two Hida scans, the first which showed up normal. My GI doc was reluctant to have the second one, since the first one was normal. I had my gallbladder out last week and I still experience the pain. I have finally realized that this is all anxiety and my gallbladder is gone. I still have a swollen tummy, but was convinced that their was more to it. I still experience the breathing problem, but when I realize it is not real, it gets better. Wow!!! I have been a total wreck! My husband has been so supportive and understanding. I'm blessed! Hope we all survive this terrible demon at last.

[MartineMoreau]

I'm seeing myself in some of your words.

I'm currently dealing with anxiety that was started following the use of birth control. I stopped after a week cause I too was getting the chest pain, chest pressure, shortness of breath and I also experienced panic attack. Then I started to worry about my physical symptomes and got deep into anxiety.

What you need to do now is to accept the medical test came normal. You are fine, your body is only reacting to the anxiety that you are experiencing over your physical symptomes. The more you worry about the pain you have the more they are there. You have to find ways to help you cope with your anxiety and focus on something else.

For at least a month try getting up early in the morning and write in a journal about everything that goes through your head anxiety, bland daily thing, ect. at least a page both sides. This has helped me immensily. When you feel that you are having lots of palpitations try to do something that will take all your attention. Cooking, reading a book, talking to someone on the phone or internet, knitting, sewing, drawing, taking a walk, ect. when you don't consentrate on the symptomes they leave faster.

I used to have extrasystoles (palpitations) for up to 6 hours every 2-4 beats and now they don't last as long. You should also check the One Move Technique Joe Barry. That's what I use to help me cope with the anxiety without meds.  I

[RubyWitch]

In my humble and non-medical opinion, I believe  your heart is perfectly fine and you don't need any further testing. You have been to so many "ologists" in the past few weeks, I think what you need to do now is accept their diagnosis of anxiety.
You stated that you had severe anxiety issues when you were younger. That you have gone for many years without any real anxiety is great, but unfortunately, anxiety can return to haunt us throughout our entire lives. And it can change as we age. How it affected you at 21 does not mean it will affect you exactly the same way at 29.
Do you have any idea what triggered this bout of anxiety for you? The first thing that I thought while reading your post was when you said you began to feel this anxiety around the same time you stopped taking the YAZ birth control. I believe there is now some controversy around that method of BC. Is it possible THAT was the trigger? When I listen to the side effects of many of the newer forms of birth control on the market, (YAZ among them) the list of possible health problems damn near gives ME a panic attack! Was a check up with your gynocologist on that list of doctors you saw?

To get to your question, yes, there are other tests you could request, but I really think you'd be doing nothing but throwing your money away. You have been given a squeaky clean bill of health............physically. I think it's time now to look into some therapy to help you deal with your mental anxiety, which, like most of us, manifests itself in some really nasty physical ways. Heart anxiety is probably the #1 form this takes for most of us. It was for me and there are no less than a dozen cardiologists driving around in Porsches that I paid for!

I think you're fine, Toots, you just need to get to the root of your anxiety and deal with that. It's not easy, but well worth the rocky road to reach recovery.
Peace
Greenlydia

[blsdnsvd]

I'm sure that the chest pains are worrisome, however, anxiety will cause them. Due to the fact that you had multiple medical tests done and all were normal, anxiety is more than likely the culprit. You should probably set up a visit with a Psychologist in order to confirm your diagnosis. They and a Psychiastrist can diagnose your symptoms. I was diagnosed back in 97, but before finding out the reason (Anxiety) for all of my symptoms, I was hospitalized for almost a week running tests to see if there was something serious going on and everything was normal but I felt like I was on my last breath. The many symptoms were tiresome and worrisome. During my Hospital stay, i had a roomate who was admitted for  sharp chest pains and her diagnosis was Anxiety. She says that while at a basketball game, she got a very sharp pain in her chest that went away and came back...so, yes, Chest pain is a symptom of a panic attack. I also had a book on Anxiety/Panic Attacks which name "chest Pain" as a symptom. I hoped this helped.